Mista C Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 When I read the book, I never really thought that they told how they get the faces, preserve the faces, and then use them. Obviously, magic is involved. One of the little snippets that HBO released this week is GRRM discussing the Hall of Faces. His exact words are "The faceless men have a sorcerer's procedure for changing your face.. they use the faces of the dead which they skin off their victims... and hang up to dry... when they want to become that person they hold the skin over their own face". This was never revealed in the book, correct? I mean, when a FM changes, they aren't really literally hanging the dead persons skin on their own face like a mask, right? A skinned face would obviously dry out and rot and not remain preserved as they looked on the show. How do they preserve them? Perhaps they use a spell in which they touch the face that they want to use and then touch their own face and the change happens? When Jaquen changes his face back in season 2 when he says goodbye to Arya after Harrenhall, he obviously was not anywhere near the Hall of Faces, so how would he have done it? I just don't remember the book really giving any explanation, or am I wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robasp2 Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 When I read the book, I never really thought that they told how they get the faces, preserve the faces, and then use them. Obviously, magic is involved. One of the little snippets that HBO released this week is GRRM discussing the Hall of Faces. His exact words are "The faceless men have a sorcerer's procedure for changing your face.. they use the faces of the dead which they skin off their victims... and hang up to dry... when they want to become that person they hold the skin over their own face". This was never revealed in the book, correct? I mean, when a FM changes, they aren't really literally hanging the dead persons skin on their own face like a mask, right? A skinned face would obviously dry out and rot and not remain preserved as they looked on the show. How do they preserve them? Perhaps they use a spell in which they touch the face that they want to use and then touch their own face and the change happens? When Jaquen changes his face back in season 2 when he says goodbye to Arya after Harrenhall, he obviously was not anywhere near the Hall of Faces, so how would he have done it? I just don't remember the book really giving any explanation, or am I wrong?In episode 2, if you look carefully you can see Jacquen peel off his face.But it looked liked turning over a page :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbob Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 The whole thing is actually confusing. I still can't figure out why they were cutting Arya's face. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ummester Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 It must be some damn fine sorcery if it can make a rotten old floppy skin mask look good pulled over someones face, otherwise all faceless men would like like Leatherhead from Texas Chainsaw when they are in disguise :D In the books, I thought they cut Arya's face also - I thought they were actually removing her skin so they could replace it with new skin and this is something the faceless men had somehow perfected - a combination of some sort of bizarre cosmetic surgery and blood magic, or something. I found this quote elsewhere on the forum Mummers change their faces with artifice, and sorcerers use glamors, weaving light and shadow and desire to make illusions that trick the eye. These arts you shall learn, but what we do here goes deeper. Wise men can see through artifice, and glamors dissolve before sharp eyes, but the face you are about to don will be as true and solid as that face you were born with. So it seems a full faceless man transformation is both physical and magical. A bit more research on the Wiki and it seems that they used Arya's blood to magically bond the flesh of the removed face to hers. The flesh of the removed face must keep some of the memories of the person it belonged to - so all the hanging faces must be magical somehow. This could come off looking really dumb in the show if they don't do it right. it only works in the books because it isn't explained. But I am hoping they remove some skin, as part of the transformation - they don't have to show it all, can leave some mystery - but it would be nice to see that it is a frightening and painful looking procedure the first time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philpenn Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 I took the cuts they made on Arya's face to be like buttons/clasps type jawns. As in they didn't remove her face, but the cuts are how the mask face bonds to hers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grufolo Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 I took the cuts they made on Arya's face to be like buttons/clasps type jawns. As in they didn't remove her face, but the cuts are how the mask face bonds to hers. That was also my impression Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Good Guy Garlan Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Regarding Jaqen in season 2, he was either walking around with a dude's face in his pocket the whole time, or the Alchemist's face that he wears when he kills Pate is his true face. Or he took that face from some poor sod at Harrenhal. I guess that's also a possibility.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mista C Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 Some very interesting responses... I wonder if they will show more on the show when Arya finally changes her face for the first time, or if she will just turn around and it will already be changed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Suburbs Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 For a second, I thought the face that Arya walked up to was Septa Mordane, but I think that is unlikely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannyk65 Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Some very interesting responses... I wonder if they will show more on the show when Arya finally changes her face for the first time, or if she will just turn around and it will already be changed? I was wondering the same. My guess is that she will just turn around with a new face Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbunting Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 I could see her / Jaqen picking out a girls face, her holding it in her palms and putting it on, then a cut away to Jaqen pressing it against her face and when he pulls his hands away the new face is there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Net-Viper X Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 She will probably end up with the face of that little girl she poisoned in episode 5, its fresh and about the right age after all. They need to do the cutting though, I always felt like the blood from those cuts is what invigorates the face and makes it lifelike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannyk65 Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 I thought I saw an image of the girl Arya changes into....it wasn't the girl she 'helped' in the temple. In other news, it was a strikingly hot looking girl, so I'd bet D&D can't wait to show her bewbs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ServantOnIce Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 The, "supernatural" aspect of this tale is what makes it Fantasy, Dragons, Shadow Babies, White Walkers, etc. outside of that is is just historical fiction. I think because it doesn't have some of the overt Fantasy images in the story and definitely not on the show, folks forget that is what is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Damian Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 I kept looking for that George W. Bush face that was beheaded next to Ned and Septa Mordane in Season 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord_Pepsi_Cupps Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 The technique for switching faces is typical GRRM - at its core, it can't be anything other than magic (facial transplant that is apparently flawless? WE can't do that still!), but it's described in a way that's almost mechanical. It almost follows a medical procedure that might generally work that way if it were real (surgical cut around the existing face, etc). So you end up with the minimal amount of magic possible on page when describing it, even for something that is just pure fantasy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Grimshaw Posted May 24, 2015 Share Posted May 24, 2015 I thought that face she approached was Septa Mordane too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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